Wolves on the Run
by Spiga
Summary: War is hell, and so is living with Jules. If you can't trust your alpha, who can you trust? A story of two werewolves, the open road and a lot of dead vampires. Current Chapter: Tyler shoots gun, misses horribly.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I got into the Vampire Diaries only after I heard werewolves were going to be introduced. I had been a casual viewer before then, catching episodes whenever they were on. I liked it, it was certainly a better paranormal romance story than Twilight, but I didn't really consider myself a huge fan. The whole werewolf lore of the show was interesting. The Aztec Moon Curse, the Lockwood family history. I like the characters and the mythology of the show. I felt like the whole background of the wolves, the vampires, and the curse had massive potential. It seems that they've aborted the werewolf plot though, and I doubt we're going to see them make their return for the rest of the season. I always thought it would be interesting to see how Tyler adjusts to life as a werewolf. He's a rich kid, used to getting everything he wants. Now he's on the run, trying to avoid becoming a cannibalistic murderer when the moon comes out and presumably Jules is Alpha in their little pack of two. When he left Mystic Falls, his entire world changed in a way equal if not greater than the events of his becoming a full blooded werewolf. That's a story that interests me. How this rich, spoiled small town kid comes to terms with being an omega wolf living out of Jules' car and eating cheap take out in between dodging everything that wants to kill him and fighting in a war with the likes of Klaus and Elijah. Out of his depth and with a woman who has been manipulating him since she found out about him as his only company. Jules and the other werewolves are consolidating their strength after their massive and repeated losses, circling Mystic Falls like vultures trying to get at the moon stone and Tyler is being dragged along for the ride. It's certainly more interesting than him getting in a cock fight with a pasty vampire boy over a droopy human girl (I'm looking at you, Twilight).

* * *

Also, while this story isn't a full blown crossover, I will be tossing in characters from other series from time to time. Certainly the wolf shifters are based on the True Blood werewolves. Keep an eye out for anyone you might recognize.

Most of the time, Tyler wondered how truthful Jules was being with him. How much of what she and the rest of her friends had filled his head with was fact and how much was them trying to bring him into the fold. 'We don't hurt humans' she had said. Repeatedly. Then she had murdered a man in the motel they had been staying at for reasons she wouldn't talk about. 'We don't give humans the curse against their will.' she had told him once.

Now he was helping her and a bunch of other werewolves load a bunch of screaming, crying humans with poorly bandaged bite wounds into the back of a semi truck on this dusty stretch of deserted road just north of the border. Somehow, he doubted any of them had signed up for lycanthropy. They probably didn't even know what their captors were, or what they themselves had been doomed to become.

All of them seemed to be Mexican immigrants. Probably illegal. The werewolf clan apparently had their claws dug in most forms of crime, it wouldn't surprise him if a few of them posed as the type who helped foreigners get into the United States illegally and then kidnapped them for use as recruits. Cannon fodder really. The werewolf who was running the whole operation had told him that most of them probably wouldn't last, because they were bitten and not born like he had been there was a chance that the first transformation would kill them. Between that, infighting among the newly turned, and inexperience most of them would probably be dead within a year anyway. Tyler wondered what Caroline would say if she knew. If her opinion of him could get any lower.

A small, pretty woman who couldn't have been much older than he was looked up at the huge burly werewolf wearing the leather jacket and was herding the newly bitten into the truck like they were cattle. He was holding a rifle but Tyler knew it was mostly for show. He could kill any human who tried to run easily enough with his bare hands. Tyler was standing with his back to the road. A shotgun in his hands, it was the only weapon other than the rifle he knew how to use. His father had taught him long ago, but he hadn't fired a gun in years. He prayed he wouldn't have to. Not tonight. Not on these people.

Suddenly the woman bolted.

The werewolf with the rifle shouted something in Spanish and raised his rifle. An older man with a heavy mustache wearing a black cowboy hat grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked it hard. The shot went wild. A man fell with a hole in his chest and blood sprayed his wife's face. Several others jumped all over the werewolf and he went down. Tyler heard breaking bones and the sound of tearing flesh. The scent of human blood filled the air, but Tyler knew that the werewolf would climb out of that dog pile without so much as a bruise and several human beings would be bleeding to death from gouged throats and missing limbs. These werewolves were far more brutal than Jules had led on, they had about as much regard for human life as vampires did, which clocked it in as none at all. These people wouldn't be anything more than cattle to his so called brothers until their first full moon. Until then, they were just troublesome walking meat sacks who had the potential to become actual people to the wolves.

"Tyler!" Jules shouted from behind him. "Don't let her get away!"

"Shoot her! Shoot her you idiot!" Someone shouted from the other side of the road.

Tyler watched the woman-a girl really, a teenager- flee along the side of the semi. She was as fleet of foot as a deer, agile and quick. Tyler could almost admire her grace.

But she was running, and Jules had just given him an order.

The shotgun was heavy in his hands, for a moment it was too heavy to raise. The girl ran past the cab and darted around it. He tried to imagine pulling the trigger, blasting her all over the highway. Part of him wanted the girl to get away, to escape whatever hell was waiting for those unlucky enough to have fallen into this hellish trap. Yet he knew she had no chance, the werewolves would run her down without trouble. What they would to her then was anyone's guess, but some of them had a look in their eye as they leered at the women. A look that made Tyler think they wouldn't just kill her or load her back up when they found her. They'd do things, horrible things. Jules shouted his name again, but he had already dropped the shotgun. Better he catch her, Tyler decided, than the others.

He raced after her, moving faster than he had ever run before the curse. Running faster than any normal human or wolf could ever run. He shouldn't have had to chase her down; she shouldn't have had to run at all. This shouldn't be happening. This was wrong. So wrong. This was cruel, evil.

God help him, he was too scared of the others to try to stop this. A coward, going along with the others when he should be doing the right thing. Caroline was right.

So he ran after her, tried to run away from the truth he felt whispering in the back of his mind. His quarry was running away from the road, into the dark night shrouded desert. She probably wouldn't have lasted long even if she did manage by some miracle to get away. She had no water and it was freezing at night and scorching in the day. She would die out there for sure before she ever saw her first full moon. Tyler told himself that, that at least with the other wolves she at least had a chance. A shot at living. He told himself that, but it didn't make him feel any better.

She was fast for a human. Not quite an Olympic runner, but the girl was a speed demon to be sure. Tyler was faster, he caught up to her before she got ten feet from the road. The wolf's instincts were to jump, pull her down. The wolf was a predator with a predator's instincts and those instincts told him that anything that ran was prey. It was the same reason dogs chased cars and big animals like tigers automatically attacked anyone who ran away. It was the reason certain prey animals like deer instinctively froze up when they sensed danger. The chase instinct was hardwired into pretty much every predator on the planet. If it ran from you it was scared, if it was scared it must be prey. If it was prey you ate it.

Tyler's instincts took over and he lunged, colliding with the girl's back. The two rolled over the dusty earth, Tyler's muscular arms around her waist. He was grinding his teeth, trying to stop himself from sinking them into her back. The girl screamed, and those screams excited the part of Tyler that was an animal. That excitement repulsed the part of Tyler that was a human. Eventually he wound up on top of her, straddling her hips with her shouting and squirming face down beneath him. Flashbacks to before he was a shape shifting monstrosity and had a girlfriend aside their position was awkward so he quickly scrambled to his feet and grabbed her arm. Yanking her into a standing position. She screamed at him, her words a flurry that rapidly alternated between Spanish and English. Her tone alternating between furious and pleading. Desperation, rage, confusion. He hadn't been much different than her long ago.

He heard whooping and hollering from the other werewolves as he dragged her back, kicking and screaming to the side of the road. He asked them, silently of course, if any of them had been any different either. How long ago had they been newly cursed like this girl, and how could they could forget the terror and desperation? Those vile sons of bitches, those vicious upright animals tore her from his grasp and dragged her by her hair back to the truck throwing her in the back. The 'recruits' were all packed in shoulder to shoulder. They would spend their entire trip to the Alaskan compound jammed in there with the corpses of anyone who the werewolves had killed in frustration or sheer malice without food or water until they arrived. Then they'd be force fed wolfs bane to keep them from escaping to easily, thrown into a huge pit and left until the moon rose and their lives were ruined forever. Those that survived the transformation and hadn't ripped each other apart would be dragged out, fed, cleaned, told the basics of what was happening to them and handed out to packs running low on members like guns or food. They were supplies no different than munitions or uniforms right up until the day they either proved themselves to be good little wolf soldiers or a vampire ripped their hearts out of their chests and then shoved it down their throats.

And Tyler had helped make it all happen.

It would be the first of many atrocities he would take part in during his participation in the war.

He never did see that girl again.

He did dream about her a lot though.

* * *

I would love it if Tyler returned to the show in two or three seasons as a battle scared veteran haunted by the things he saw and did when he was with Jules…but this is the CW. So it's damn unlikely.


	2. Chapter 2

Simbawriter82: To be honest, that never really occurred to me. I just figured that as powerful as the originals are they were killing the werewolves faster than they could reproduce in the early days of the war and their numbers never really bounced back. Mind you, in the context of this story the originals have a large number of supernatural creatures other than witches and vampires who owe allegiance to them. Also consider that before the curse came down few people probably survived being savaged by a werewolf and I imagine they had fairly strict rules about infecting others purposely ("siring" them, to steal a vampire term).

Also, it's mentioned that some of the bitten die during the first transformation. That was really nothing more than a way to show how calloused some werewolves are to human life, not even the cursed matter much to them until their first full moon. I suppose the interpretation of that line could be stretched to explain the heavy population hits they're taking.

Twotoe: Of course, I'm going to try and keep Caroline alive in the story, even if she will appear seldom if at all. She's had such a huge effect of Tyler's character, and of course I'll toss the Forbewood fans a bone every now and then. I'm planning on skipping back home every once and a while to give Caroline some face time. I also truly feel that it's important to have Tyler build some relationships up other than Caroline before he returns.

As for Tyler being an omega, he's the youngest wolf. I imagine Mason, in some way either instinctual or otherwise, recognized Tyler and retreated to avoid hurting him if he lost control. Werewolves (in this story, unsure about canon) don't have any special claim to alpha status by birth unless that's the way things work in that specific pack. All of them pretty much come out of the gate the lowest in the hierarchy and have to claw their way into positions of power on their own merits. Some pack alphas do pass on their titles down their bloodlines, but different packs work differently from each other. The duo of the story fall into their position automatically because Tyler is a newbie and Jules is older. Tyler could challenge her for leadership…but it probably wouldn't end well for him. It also probably wouldn't be worth it. Their pack is insanely small.

Again, Caroline is a huge part of Tyler's thoughts right now. Her huge impact on his character cannot simply be ignored but Jules is the one Tyler has to deal with. She's his mentor, and his last remaining lifeline. The relationship between Tyler and Jules is one of the corner stones of the story as she digs her claws in deeper and he fights to leverage any kind of control in their relationship.

This chapter explore said relationship more fully and demonstrates the hold Jules has over Tyler. It's probably going to be controversial so please read to other author's note before biting my face off. :D

* * *

It had been hot in Arizona. He liked Maine better, though not by much. He was standing in the cold, musty cabin that Jules had described as a safe house. Presumably that meant that it had been set up by werewolves and any member of the bloodline could stay there. Tyler hadn't asked.

Of course he hadn't spoken a single word to Jules since that night on the road, rounding it up that meant about a week. They hadn't hooked up with any other werewolves. This could have meant a couple things. One possible answer was that all werewolves were like those sadistic fuckers on the road and Jules knew that Tyler had been about two heartbeats away from shooting them all in their evil little faces. In that case Jules was wise to keep him sequestered away from the rest of their sick species until he learned better self control.

There were other answers; maybe she just liked traveling with as few werewolves as possible. Fewer wolves, fewer mouths to feed, easier to travel. The least likely one was that she was a cougar, was grooming him to be her mate and wanted him all to herself until he was nice and brainwashed into being her loyal sex slave. He didn't even know why he had thought that one up. Maybe he was getting lonely. Trips to computers sites of ill repute aside hadn't even seen a boob since his break up with Vicki; presumably the backflow was frying his brain and making him see lust where there was none. In retrospect the young werewolf had come up with that theory not long after a dream involving a naked Jules, a film set from the original Wolfman, and an electric razor.

Tyler shook his head, he was definitely getting lonely. Jules had been perfectly content to withstand his silent treatment and about a day ago had started to give it right back to him. She had dumped his breakfast and dinner in front of him and had otherwise not even acknowledged his presence. She was out, presumably getting dinner. Maybe she was biting the heads off little children and disemboweling pregnant women, who knew? He had soon come to realize that werewolves were not the poor, picked on and persecuted innocents Jules had made them out to be when she was recruiting him. From what he had seen, they were no better than the vampires…no, not even that. What had he seen of the vampires? Stefan Salvatore may have been an insufferable little shit but he loved Elena Gilbert, a human. Days ago he had realized that werewolves didn't even give a damn about humans who had been bitten until their first transformation. And Caroline Forbes, the leech who had manipulated and lied to him? She…she wasn't…she wasn't what Jules had told him she was.

What the hell was he fighting to protect in this war? A race of sadistic sociopaths from…who? Caroline? She was the embodiment of all darkness? Damon seemed like a dick but then again he didn't round up people and shove them into the back of trucks. Jules had told him the vampires were evil, they fed on humans. They persecuted werewolves and hunted them to near extinction. To hear her talk about them he wouldn't have been surprised if Jules had revealed that Hitler was a vampire and Count Dracula had been behind 9/11. \

He had told her, explicitly told her; he would tolerate no more lies when he had agreed to go with her. Tyler suspected that she hadn't been truthful with him once since she had met him. Yet he was at her mercy, for he had no where else to go. He couldn't go back to Mystic Falls. He had no family anywhere else, either. He didn't know anyone outside his home town that was in any way capable of dealing with what he was. Caroline hated him, he couldn't heap this onto his poor mother and most of all he was scared of being alone.

For better or worse, Jules was all he had now. She was his lifeline, his world. Mother, sister, friend, mentor. He didn't trust a word she said but he was bound to her as if they had been chained together. Something had to give, eventually. Either he was going to have to put his foot down or start looking for alternate arrangements. Jules had been nothing but nice to him since they had left, but she could very easily make his life hell if he pushed her. Barely a day and a half of giving him the cold shoulder and he was already running up the walls.

She walked in the front door, didn't even spare a glance at him and then went right for the kitchen. Seven o'clock, werewolf appetite was probably making her impatient. The werewolf appetite was making him impatient but he didn't move from his spot on the ratty couch until he heard the clinking of silverware and the slight crunch as she broke the seal on a water bottle. Jules' preferred brand was Kirkland, Tyler didn't know why. He thought it tasted like sewage himself.

Tyler suddenly shuddered when he realized he knew more about Jules than he had known about Vicki…or Caroline. Or most people he had supposedly been close with in Mystic Falls for that matter. For one thing she apparently suffered from a sore right elbow. He noticed her wincing and rubbing it at least once a day, she had a bite scar above her right shoulder blade he had seen after their first transformation together. Jules hadn't been born with the curse; she had been completely human once. Jules snored, sometimes so loud it actually startled him even if he was sleeping in another room. The blonde werewolf presumably spoke Spanish, or at least understood it. More than once he had walked in on her watching a telenova and either laughing after a line or rolling her eyes. He wondered how much she had picked up about him.

Wolves were pack animals that developed very close personal bonds. Maybe he and Jules were forming their very own miniature werewolf pack of two. Maybe that was just normal after close to three months on the road together, werewolf or not. Tyler wasn't entirely sure he wanted to get close to Jules though. Just because he had been picking up on little personality quirks didn't mean he had any clue was going on in her head. If she really cared about him at all or just though of him as a laky. If she was a woman who had been forced to become calloused by a vicious war or a violent sociopath. He simply didn't know and though he understood he was going to have to find out if this little family of theirs was going to make it he was terrified of what he would find. What he had allowed into his life.

Jules scared him. That was that. She was unpredictable, mysterious and she could probably kill him with very little difficult in either form. She spooked Tyler, plain and simple.

He stalked into the kitchen; she was going to town on a hamburger, which she had cut into four quarters with a knife. Without even looking at him she shoved a hamburger towards him. It had been cut into quarters too. Why did she do that? What past experience or strange compulsion drove her to that? He had to admit, he was curious about Jules. Maybe because he knew if he found out more about her than maybe she would be less scary. Or more scary. He didn't really know. All he could do was take the leap and hope for the best. But not until he knew he could trust her to be honest with him.

He sat down across from her and took a bite, chewing slowly. He swallowed.

Take the leap.

"Two days until full moon." He tossed out. His voice was oddly hoarse and he suddenly realized he hadn't spoken in a week.

"It speaks." Jules said flatly, peeling the now triangular bun pack from the paddy and looking down at the sandwich. Apparently it was not to her liking but she ate anyway.

"Jules?" He asked, trying not to sound like a child daring his parent's wrath.

"The cellar is reinforced to deal with feral werewolves." She said quickly. "There's a set up I can lock you down in, it's like a straight jacket. Not very comfortable, but it'll get the job done. I'll circle the cabin; make sure no one comes sniffing."

Jules had been a werewolf for a lot longer than he had been. Years, maybe even decades. Hell, maybe even centuries. The werewolf had all but told her charge she was older than she looked. Whether that meant werewolves were ageless and would never die unless killed or if they just had greatly extended lifespans he didn't know. Maybe she was old enough to be his granny, or his granny's granny. Tyler was clueless; Jules didn't talk about her past and at the time Tyler hadn't thought to quiz her on werewolf biology. So far all he knew was the real important stuff. Like how the only way to kill him dead enough to keep him from regenerating was to separate his head from his heart. Decapitation or the vampire's favorite way of killing his species, impromptu heart surgery, were to be avoided. Mind you, Tyler generally avoided having his head cut off and his heart ripped out before he was a werewolf so his life hadn't really changed in that regard.

Still, Jules' age as a werewolf meant she had more control than Tyler. Again, the specifics were unknown to him. How much control did she really have? Was she in complete control of her own mind while in wolf form? Was her wolf just a smarter, older, less violent being than the thing he became? Was it somewhere in between? How long before he didn't have to be locked up like that?

He had so much to learn. They were going to have to build up some trust if he was going to live with this and learn how to do these things.

Tyler knew, deep in his heart, that he was going to have to clear the air between them. So he went right for the jugular.

"Never again, Jules." He said, his voice and the conviction and downright anger he had felt rising hot in his blood. Giving his words strength. "I will never do anything like that ever again."

Jules stopped eating.

"You'll do what has to be done. This is a war." She said icily.

"I'm not a soldier." Tyler insisted. He was a teenage football player from Mystic Falls.

"We're all soldiers. Each and every one of this." Jules threw her hamburger on the table. "Because this war concerns every werewolf alive. You still don't get it do you? You still don't realize what's going on out there." She shook her head as if Tyler was an idiot refusing to understand would should have been obvious.

"Then tell me, Jules! No more lies! No more half truths!" Tyler shouted.

Jules stood up, her chair falling over and clacking against the cheap tile. Tyler flinched and leaned away from her.

"Tyler if we lose this war the vampires aren't going to take our rights away or make us sign a treaty or-or enslave us." She took a step towards him. "The originals will not be satisfied until every single one of our kind is dead. You, me, everybody. And they aren't alone, they have witches and warlocks and other things under their command. This fight isn't about money, or religion or politics. There isn't going to be any peaceful resolution, and you can't just switch sides." As if his relationship with Caroline made him susceptible to becoming a double agent for the vampires, Tyler noted bitterly. "This is about survival; there are things out there that want us extinct. Plain and simple, and they've almost succeeded."

She righted the chair and pulled it closer to him. Sat down in it so she was just inches away from him. She held his face in her hands and turned his head until he was looking her in the ye and spoke softly, but with passion. Conviction. She could have been an orator. Tyler flinched a bit at her touch, but he couldn't escape her words. Or her gaze.

"Tyler, it's them or us. And if we want to survive we must make some sacrifices. If that means a few humans have to be sacrificed..." She let him go and leaned back. "Tyler, I don't like what we were doing back there any more than you do but our numbers are dwindling, we are being hunted down. They're creeping into our strongholds on the full moon when responsible werewolves who don't want to hurt people have locked themselves down. They smother our children in their cribs. They go after our human families to draw us out and make us vulnerable." Tyler noticed her voiced breaking a bit, was she speaking from experience?

It was the same things she had said before. Vampire war crimes, werewolf children mounted on walls like prized hunting trophies. The vampire originals sent their powerful agents to kill their men, rape their women and sell them life insurance. Things he hadn't seen but had to take Jules' word on and damn it, she made him believe. If not for that instant only, the conviction in her voice was proof no different than evidence for he himself to see.

It was history repeating itself. God help him, she talked and he listened.

"You lied to me, Jules." Tyler said, but the strength in his voice has gone out like a light. His conviction, his certainty and his anger at Jules had been smothered by her words whether they were genuine or more subtle manipulations. "You said we were just going to help a few people who had been newly cursed not…not round them up like cattle. People died that night-"

"What did you think was going to happen, Tyler?" She asked with a sigh. "Did you think it was going to be like some werewolf counseling seminar? That there would be coffee and donuts and everyone would stand up and talk about their feelings? These are hard times, Tyler! The vampires outnumber us a hundred to one! We need more-"

"Jesus Christ! Those people came here to clean toilets and do gardening! They're not exactly werewolf super soldier material, Jules!" Tyler stood up and began to pace. "Why them? How was anything about what we did to those people right? No one deserves to be treated like that!"

"Tyler." Jules said quietly, standing and approaching him. "I might not agree with the methods, but the fact is we have no other choice. This is about survival, those people…it's sad. But it's necessary. And some of them will survive, Tyler! We must keep fighting if we're to see the end of this, this nightmare."

Tyler sighed and leaned against the counter. Survival. That's what it was about, survival. She made it sound so easy, the way she spoke. Them and us, them _or _us. Tyler had to admit he could preach about morals all he wanted but if it came right down to it was he really ready to accept not just his own death but the extinction of his entire race? Why shouldn't he do everything in his power to avoid complete werewolf genocide? Could he really be the only non socipathic werewolf in the world?

There were those out there, fighting for their lives he had never met yet. Who was he to look them in the eye and tell them that their lives and the lives of their families were not worth the lives of a few people?

This was a war. He was a kid. Did he really have all the answers? Enough to decide that the werewolves should just roll over and die?

"It's hard." Tyler said, looking down.

"This is a hard world. We must make the hard choices so our children won't have to."

Children, the future, a bright shining tomorrow. She made it all sound worth it. A monster he would have to be so a monster he would not one day become. They were good words, spoken with a strong voice and even though not even a few minutes ago Tyler had been sure she was playing him like a puppet she _made _him a believer in that moment.

She put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It'll get easier." Jules reassured him.

"When?"

"When you see what they do. When you see what they really are."

* * *

What sparked Tyler's 180? Desperation and fear has a lot to do with it really. Tyler essentially gave himself up to Jules willingly and it's implied that he's gotten over his head. He knows intellectually that he has to stand up to Jules but as I illustrated in the story she's really his last meaningful contact in the world. He _wants _to believe he made the right decision and he's not alone even if he suspects that Jules is a complete monster (she's not, btw. This Jules is a bit more complicated than that). He needs that justification.

As smart as Tyler is, he's still a kid. Of course Jules is dominant in their relationship.

Also, before anyone says anything yes I did make an effort to at least hint to Tyler's sexual attraction to Jules. He's a teenage boy and Jules…well, she's pretty hot. I'll try to keep this crack pairing on a leash though, at least this early in the game. If it comes to that though, the train wreck of an ending to that particular affair would be to much to pass up. I'm totally going to Joss Whedon this up and put the characters through their paces.

It'd probably drive him right back to Caroline anyway, so rejoice if it does happen! It means a return to Forbewood and healthy, non creepy relationships soon!


	3. Chapter 3

In this chapter, Tyler gets his first taste of real combat.

* * *

There was only one bedroom in the safe house, Tyler found that to be a bit unusual. He guessed the others had been converted into the security room. The entire area surrounding the cabin was rigged up with security cameras, trip wires, even seismic detectors. All of that information was fed into the security room and Jules generally spent most days alone in there. He heard her talking to someone over the phone, occasionally heard the gentle click-clack of computer keys being tapped. With all the computer and video gear running in there and because the rooms were designed to trap as much heat as possible Jules would emerge from whatever it was she did in there every two hours or so for fresh air. Hot and sweaty…

The young werewolf rubbed his eyes furiously as though in an attempt to banish the images of Jules and her body from his mind. There was no point in going down that particular yellow brick road to ruin, it wouldn't end well.

Tyler shuddered on the couch, and threw off the thin, coarse blanket he had covered himself in the night before. Tomorrow night was the full moon, and Tyler could feel a distant ache in his bones that heralded the transformation. The moon was waxing, tonight it would be a blazing white disc in the sky and he would be nauseous and sore until sunrise. He was frightened and anxious, but he pushed those feelings down. Now was not the time. Tyler stood and made his way to the kitchen, intending to scavenge whatever was left of last night's dinner.

He was chewing on a bit of stale pizza crust when Jules entered the room, rubbing her elbow. Her cheeks were red, and her brow was furrowed.

"We may need to leave tonight." She told the younger werewolf.

Tyler froze mid chew and looked up at Jules. Fear suddenly flared in his breast.

"Why?" He asked through a mouthful of crumbly, cardboard tasting bread.

"My contact in town reported a pack of wolves just made a mess of a roadside diner west of here last night. They might be heading this way."

Tyler swallowed, and confusion etched his face.

"Wolves? You mean werewolves?" Wouldn't that make them allies?

Jules shook her head and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"No, not werewolves."

Tyler followed her out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, where she began to pack what little possessions they had. Tyler noticed that among the things that Jules packed into her duffle bag was a picture of his uncle, but kept it to himself. He had long suspected that Jules had been more than just Mason's friend, but he had never asked her about it. Maybe he didn't want to know…

He was still forming what questions to ask about these mysterious wolves-what were they, were they dangerous, why was she so afraid of them- when the first mournful howl sounded out in the lush Maine forest beyond them. Jules froze, cocked her head, and he saw her ears twitch as she tracked the sound. Tyler had heard the sound in a dozen movies and nature documentaries, it was a wolf's howl but higher in pitch. Almost like a scream.

It sounded only a little like what he had heard the night he had first seen Mason in his bestial state-_snarling, luminous yellow eyes glaring hatred at the world from deep set sockets, talons like scythes, coal black and dirty white coat, the werewolf threw Stefan to the forest floor and bared railroad spike teeth at Tyler- _and he remembered, somewhere at the back of his mind. Buried beneath layers of fear and pain and confusion was the bellowing, foghorn roar of his own howl as he prowled in the moonlight.

Jules snarled, baring her teeth at the noise and Tyler immediately jumped back in surprise. The bestial sound that had torn its way from Jules' throat was unlike anything he had ever heard her make in her human form. It was purely animal and when he looked at her eyes he could see they had taken on a fearsome yellow hue. For a moment, her jaw seemed to lengthen and her brow slide forward. This close to the moon, the beast struggled for freedom against the binds of the curse.

"We need to go! Now!" Jules barked-nearly literally- and shoved the bags into Tyler's hands. "Take this to the car and then come help me with the rest!"

"The rest of wh-"

Jules struck him across the face with the back of one hand. Not particularly hard, it didn't even have her full force behind it but it had the desired affect of stopping Tyler mid sentence. Tyler blinked in confusion, Jules had _never _hit him. The female bared her teeth, and Tyler could see that her canines had elongated into fangs to match her feral eyes. She was asserting her dominance, and Tyler instinctively fell into a defensive crouch beneath her, averting his eyes in an act of submission preprogrammed into his body by werewolf genetics. Jules lightly struck him against the back of the neck, acknowledging his submission and then with a snuffing sound she disappeared from the room in a flash of motion. Tyler remained crouched for a moment, getting his bearings. What had just happened?

He would latter come to understand that it had been his first brush with werewolf management techniques. In the hierarchy it wasn't unusual for higher ranking werewolves to strike lower ranking ones, even ones they were usually friendly with, when they disobeyed a command. Werewolves were tougher than both humans and wolves, even painful strikes meant little in a tightly knit pack. It wouldn't be the last time Jules smacked him around, and it wouldn't be something he would be able to shy away from doing to his own subordinates in the future.

It was the werewolf way.

Tyler sped out the front door, nearly tripping on the steps on his way down. He was still getting used to his new physical capabilities, including his speed. When he turned around, Jules was already speeding towards him with two far larger duffle bags. One in each bag. The barrel of some kind of automatic rifle-Tyler didn't know exactly what kind, but he incorrectly guessed it was an AK-47- sticking out of one. She handed them to him.

"Put these into the car and then come and help me with the rest!" She didn't bother to stay and answer questions this time. Tyler shoved them in the back seat on top of their personal bags and then paused, he opened one. Inside was a miniature armory of weaponry, some of which he hadn't even seen in movies and none of it striking him as being something you could pick up at a local gun store anywhere near legally. Wooden stakes be damned, some of them looked big enough to rip apart a vampire with sheer force! He closed up the bag and then returned, following Jules' scent into the basement. There, he found her loading up ammunition into another bag. She looked up at him and tossed him a second bag at her feet. She picked up two more and slung one over her shoulder.

"We need to get these supplies out of here, understand? That is our mission Tyler, it is more important than anything else."

Tyler nodded quickly, picked up two more bags she indicated with an incline of her head and followed her out the door. They packed them in as tightly as possible and Jules slammed the door.

Another howl split the sky. Jules spit on the ground almost in disgust at the sound and then turned to him.

"I have to do something in the cabin, stay out here and watch the packages." She handed him a black handgun, a glock. Pretty mundane compared to the hand cannons they were apparently protecting. "Don't let anything come near the car. Shoot anything that comes out of those woods, I don't care if it looks human or not."

Tyler grimaced as he took the gun. It had been at least two years since he had held one, baring the night that shotgun had been forced into his hands. He had been so shocked by what Jules had been asking (ordering) him to do that it hadn't really registered. The rubber grip was cool and rough in his hands, and he griped it tightly.

"Jules, what's going on?" He asked.

Jules roughly grabbed him by the shoulders, there was surprising strength in her body and she shook him hard.

"Tyler, I mean it. Nothing comes near this car but me, understand?" With that she turned and disappeared into a invisible blur of speed back into the house. Tyler seethed with anger and frustration, she wasn't telling him a damn thing! How could he follow her orders when she wouldn't tell him anything? How could he trust her when-

A sharp, tangy odor invaded his nostrils. He had never smelled it before, and from behind him he heard a sharp canine growling. Tyler spun around and saw a flash of dark fur moving between the trees. The cabin was right next to the treeline and the car was just feet away from the forest. Tyler heard something softly padding across the ground and he slowly began to creep around the front of the car. There was a slight rustling sound and a huge wolf emerged from the underbrush.

Was that it? A wolf?

Jules had said wolves, but he had been expecting something a but less…natural. It's fur was black, mottled gray on the sides and along the snout. The legs were almost white. It was a big wolf to be sure, probably a little over two hundred pounds but that wasn't unnaturally huge for a timber wolf. Then the wolf turned to look at him, and it snarled, saliva dripping from its teeth.

The pupils were small, black but they were ringed with silver. The irises were actually glowing, not just reflecting light back thanks to biological adaptations like most predatory mammals, but they actually seemed to posses an internal silvery luminance. When the wolf saw him and snarled, a thick white mist began to leak from the corners of its eyes like spectral tears. The wolf couldn't really smile, but impossibly, there seemed to be mirth in its eyes. As though it was going to enjoy ripping him apart.

Tyler did as he had been told, he raised the gun and fired of a single shot. The earth beside the wolf's left paw exploded into a plume of dirt, and the wolf snarled and leapt for Tyler's throat. Tyler fired again and again but the bullets whizzed by the wolf, not even close to their mark. He fired a third time and the wolf crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. Something wet and hot spread across his shirt, and for an instant he thought the wolf had ripped his guts out but then he realize the wolf was laying limply across his chest, whining slightly as it twitched.

He had hit it mid leap, probably saved himself a savaged throat in the process. He realized he had lost his gun in the fall but that mattered little. He got his hands against the wolf's chest and began to shove it off of himself.

The wolf snarled and sank its teeth into his chest, slicing deep into his thick muscles. His blood sprayed in the air and the teenager let loose a roar of pain. The wolf on top of him began to thrash and buck, its paws scrabbling for purpose as it pulled back and then ducked its head again for the killing bite. Tyler grabbed the beast by its thick throat and began to squeeze, a whimper escaped the beast's throat as Tyler cut off its air supply. Its claws dug cuts into his chest and abdomen, but they were unsuited for doing any real damage. A wolf's true weapons were its jaws, and Tyler held those at bay with superhuman strength. Still, it was straining to get at him, snapping its jaws at his face even as he attempted to choke the life from it. It was a battle of strength versus endurance. The wolf was a bit stronger, and certainly had the advantageous position but if it didn't completely overpower Tyler soon the werewolf would strangle it. If Tyler lost his grip or weakened against the strain the wolf would maul him, perhaps fatally, perhaps not. Tyler didn't know if the wolf could dish out the damage required to put him down for good, but he would at least try.

Suddenly, the werewolf began to weaken, its thrashes became less violent. Its teeth clashed together with less and less force. Tyler shoved it back a full inch, and it suddenly reach forward with its forepaws to scrabble weakly against his massive biceps. As he forced the wolf's body upward, Tyler saw why.

The wolf was bleeding out from the bullet hole in its side, right behind its rib cage. Dark, tangy smelling blood was everywhere, he had hit something important. The white mist stopped billowing from the wolf's eyes, the glow seemed to dim a bit. Tyler snarled in rage and savagely kicked the wolf in its ribs sending it scuttling off of him. Its movements were no longer as fluid and graceful as they had once been. It seemed to have trouble standing.

Suddenly Jules was standing right beside him, gazing down at the wolf with a look of contempt and disgust. She handed him a hunting knife that was so ridicously huge it was only a few inches from being classified as a machete. He took the knife, unsure of what he was doing. How long had Jules been standing there? Why hadn't she helped him?

"Finish it off. We have time," still he heard her sniffing from beside him. She was making completely sure the wolf was alone. "This scum is just a scout."

The wolf looked at her, snarled in hate and then looked back at Tyler, its silver eyes seemed to brighten again but was it the bloodlust it had felt before or fear that had reignited the wolf's glowing eyes? The eyes focused on the knife and it shied away, moving at an angle to protect its wounded side.

Tyler looked at Jules, confused by her sudden lack of urgency. Her eyes locked with his, those bright blue eyes that could speak just as much as her words. He understood. This wolf was evidently alone, and Tyler had drawn first blood. Battle had been joined and Jules wanted to see who was the victor, wanted to test Tyler's mettle in a fight. After all he was a werewolf and, apparently, a soldier. He was expected to kill, yet he had yet to take a single life. That had to change.

This was his right of passage.

This was his first kill.

He unsheathed the knife.

The wolf's beautiful silver eyes widened, and a oddly human look of fear crossed its lupine face. It snarled, but Tyler instinctively sensed the fear in the sound. It was afraid, it _feared _him. God help him, it made him feel good.

The wolf growled deep in its throat but turned towards the forest, yet Jules suddenly zoomed to stand in its way. Tyler's gun in her hand, she waved the barrel playfully. She smiled coldly at the wolf, and the wolf turned back to Tyler, growling. Try to warn him off, but its blood soaked the ground and Tyler's wounds had already healed.

Tyler stalked forward, holding the knife in his hands, blade pointed towards it like an accusing finger. The wolf edged backward, never takings it eyes off Tyler or the knife. Against his will, a low growl bubbled up from Tyler's throat. It sounded like cracking stone, like the shattering of mountains. The wolf's own growl seemed feeble in comparison.

Tyler's gave in to his instinctincts, pain flared in his eye sockets for a brief moment and suddenly his vision flashed into a brighter but colorless version of itself. Everything was sharp and clear, and no shadows existed now. Nothing escaped his notice, even if everything was just shades of black and white. Tyler knew his eyes had transformed, the only parts of his body free of the moon curse and he growled again.

The wolf whimpered a bit, bared its teeth.

Tyler lunged, springing with his legs, knife held forward and jutting towards the wolf like a lance.

Then, blood on his face, the wolf was beneath him. Howling in torment. He heard bones crack as he shoved the blade into its chest. He was dimly aware as he pulled out the blade that he had cleaved right into the left lung. It didn't matter, the blood was black and didn't smell right but it was blood, and the wolf inside _him _was awake and pounding on its cage door. Howling in his skull to be set free. Throbbing pain in his gums as his teeth elongated, his bones cracking as they strained against the force of the ancient spell for freedom.

More.

_More._

His knife came down again and again and the wolf whimpered and howled and clawed and bit and there was nothing but the blood and the roaring in Tyler's ears and the wolf just kept on whimpering and howling and biting and clawing and he couldn't stop and everything was a blur of black blood and rage and pain and the wolf was howling and pleading and sobbing and beating him with weak little fists but he wouldn'tstophecouldn't-

What?

Wolves didn't plead, didn't pound with fists. They didn't scream for mercy.

But he wasn't on top of a wolf anymore.

He was on top of a woman. Blonde hair cut short, pretty in a rough, weather beaten kind of way. Lean but strongly muscled. She was looking up at him with eyes that still glowed faintly, but were rapidly fading, turning into a dull flat white. Her mouth hung slack and her blood mingled with his. She was pretty, though very pretty.

Oh God, it was Caroline, oh God. He had killed Caroline, oh God, oh Jesus…

Except he hadn't. It wasn't her. This…girl was obviously older. Caroline would never get older. And she had never mentioned anything about vampires turning into wolves, even though he sometimes heard it get mentioned in the movies. Tears glistened in the dying wolf girls eyes, fear and pain and confusion were etched in those eyes as they then faded from white to a watery chocolate brown. Then she gasped, gurgled and died as he watched.

Tyler shook his head, tried to clear the image of Caroline dying underneath him from his mind. With Sarah it had been so quick, he hadn't even recognized what had happened until Caroline had told him she was dead and even then…even then he had felt the change inside him. Had felt the curse awaken in his veins and the pain in his eyes as he realized what was now running through his veins. He had watched as the life of this girl had slipped away. Had watched her die.

Because _he had killed her_.

He must have lost control and gone insane, blacked out, it was the only way to explain what had happened. He had killed the wolf and then kept on killing. Where was he? Had he attacked Jules? How many other people had he killed before coming to his senses?

Jules stepped up beside the body, smirking down at it.

She kicked the body across the face, breaking the neck was a single kick.

Jules?

Then her foot came down on the skull with a sickening crunch, defacing the body even further.

His vision faded from gray back to color vision, the pain in his eyes was less so than the transformation to that state but he still flinched. Red.

Red on the body, red on his shirt. Red on the ground, red on his hands.

"Shifters." Jules said, obviously pleased. "Always biting off more than they can chew." Then she looked up at Tyler, and when she saw the look on her face her smile faded. "Tyler?"

"I…killed her." He whispered hoarsely. Her eyes widened in concern. True, genuine concern for him. He hadn't seen that look on her face since Mystic Falls when she had been recruiting him.

The knife fell from his hand.

And then he threw up.

And then there was darkness.

* * *

Reiviews are always welcome.


	4. Interlude 1

Gem1588: I have a general knowledge of Tyler and Klaus' relationship in the books, though I've never read them myself. Glad you're enjoying it!

He's a young boy, and the rain lashes the windows of his room. His room seems much bigger than it is when his night light is on and all the toys he begged his mommy to buy him suddenly seem scary. He gets out of bed and wanders into the hall but the lights are off there too. He cries out for his daddy, even though he knows daddy will be mad at him because daddy says he needs to be a big boy and not be such a baby. He asks for his daddy again but there's only the sound of the storm outside. But then there's another sound, in the darkness of the hall. Crouched beside the grandfather clock and it sounds like the noises he hears in the monsters movies that always scare him. Then he sees the eyes and he tries to run, but he can't and the eyes are glowing yellow.

Then the lightening illuminates the entire hallways, makes it almost glow white and he sees that the eyes are crying tears that are streaking down his daddy's face. And his daddy is kneeling and crying, cradling something white and sticky wet red and torn to his chest. His daddy sobs again, and then throws back his head and wails. Then in that instant the lightening flash is gone and his daddy's sobs once more become snarls and growls and even though it's black as night in the hallway he can _see…_The dark shape is crouching, not kneeling, covered in black and gray fur, not his father's pajamas. And the face is a snarling animal and there's blood dripping from its jaws. And mommy's head lolls back and her neck is red because the werewolf _tore his mother's throat out and then it howls and lunges for him-_

He runs through the forest, and the world is black and white and gray. The golden bitch at his side panting and barking and snapping in hunger and the wind in his lungs. Burning his lungs and filling him with a wild, painful, angry, beautiful life that makes him howl and the she-wolf at his side howls with him. Up ahead he sees the prey running away from him on two legs, or maybe four, or maybe both and he jumps and his teeth sink into the soft flesh of Vicki's neck and-

He's charging down the football field, legs pumping. The sound of his breathing is echoing on the inside of his helmet. He sees the biggest, baddest mofo the other team has heading straight for Dee, who's got the football and is _so. Close._ to making that last touchdown and winning the damn game. Everyone is standing in the bleachers and stomping their feet and chanting not for Dee, who's about to win them the game. They're cheering for him, screaming "Stop 'em Tyler, Stop em!" and he jumps to tackle…but his claws slice into the guy's throat. His snaps the kid's neck and he stands, horrified for what he's done but everyone is cheering him. _Cheering _him! And he looks up and-

The bleachers are full of snarling monsters. Men and wolves and some things in between the two. The ones with human mouths shout his name in jubilation and the ones with wolf snouts howl their approval. They rip and tear into dismembered human remains, greedily stuffing their snouts and maws with blood and gore stained body parts like they're hotdogs and candy. And then a black and gray wolf wearing his father's clothes steps out onto the field, clapping his paws.

"Bravo! Bravo, son! You're finally the man I've always wanted you to be! You've finally grown up!" he turns to the werewolves celebrating his kill in the bleachers. "My son, ladies and gentlemen! My son!" And Tyler doesn't know if he should scream or howl and-

"Even a man who's pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

Jules looks at him, but there are no eyes in her skull. There's just blood and maggots, windows to her corrupted her soul. Rotten and bleeding.

"But you were never a man, were you Tyler?"

And he realizes there's blood and maggots in his eye sockets too and he screams, but it comes out a animalistic roar-

He's running again through the forest, but he doesn't know if he's the predator or the prey this time and-

He's in that frightening black, black hallway all over again. And the storm is raging harder than ever. It seems like he's always winding up in the damn hallway, always right back where he started. The werewolf is crouched over his mother's body again except for the fact this time his mother is alive, screaming. Fighting back, her fists pounding the muscular chest, her fingers clawing at the black fur…except…his father's fur was black and gray.

"No, Tyler! Stop! Tyler!" Caroline screams at him.

And it's not his mother that screams and cries, not his mother being torn apart in this nightmare. It's Caroline, wearing a flawless white gown almost as beautiful as she is…was…now it's red and shredded. Tyler looks up and the boy standing there watching his father tear apart his mother isn't his younger self. The boy has Tyler's features, his strong nose. His strong build. Caroline's blonde curls, Caroline's green eyes.

"Bravo, Tyler."

Mason crouches beside him, watching the life fade from Caroline's eyes. Watching Tyler's last remaining ties to humanity snap wetly like tearing tendons.

"Welcome to the family."

Tyler howls and lunges at his own son, because the human is long dead and only the monster is left…

His dreams tell him who he is.

And remind him of everything he has lost.


	5. Chapter 4

A lot of people seem to be holding their breath for Tyler to come back to Mystic Falls and declare his undying love for Caroline to the world. Perhaps fashioning Jules' pelt into a fur coat for Caroline as a peace offering. There are plenty of Tyler/Caroline stories on the site, this fic is more about exploring Tyler's psyche and what he's going through in this war. His journy and his fight for survival. Also , I'm pretty much disregarding the episode "Klaus"...and probably a great portion of canon events in the latter half of Season 2. It seems that Tyler is due to return to Mystic Falls in the next episode. In this story Tyler is going to be gone for _years. _He's going to make friends, take lovers, and maybe even father a few bastard children and then he'll have to suffer through their deaths because when The Originals can't hurt you they go after your loved ones. He's going to return to Mystic Falls damaged and scared and both stronger as well as weaker than when he left.

Then, I think, is when I will dive into a full blown Tyler/Caroline pairing. After both characters have taken their licks a bit.

* * *

Tyler leaned heavily against the car, breathing deeply, trying to fight off the nausea. Trying desperately to think about anything but the look of complete and utter shock and agony on that woman's face as he had killed her. No, killed was somehow to tame a word, as was murder. He had utterly destroyed her, shredded her torso and pulped her organs in a fit of shark-like blood frenzy. Yeah, shark-like seemed appropriate. Somehow wolves didn't seem to be a vary valid comparison to the creature he had become in those few seconds of fury. He had always lived with a deep anger in his heart, and kind of smoldering ever present aggression that had informed his every move. He now knew that it was the werewolf in him, the beast pacing its cage. Occasionally swatting the bars, whipping up his temper but that had gone far beyond anything he had ever thought himself capable of. He hoped that it wasn't just something wrong with him. That all werewolves were capable of such savagely, mindless fury.

Tyler hoped it was the beast, and not the man, who had taken such a keen and primal joy in butchering that woman. He didn't know how long he had been out exactly, but they were miles away from the safe house. Somehow he doubted Jules had paused to give the mysterious wolf girl a proper burial. She was probably lying where she fell, with scavengers starting to crawl about her carcass. He shuddered to think about it. The air was clean and cool and crisp, and it made him think about Mystic Falls on the cusp of winter. He tried to concentrate on those few good memories he had, tried to lose himself in them and leave behind the most direct and visceral evidence of his true nature yet.

"Tyler" Jules asked, her voice tight and almost nervous. "tell me what you're thinking."

The younger werewolf cast his gaze to the treetops and tried to block out her voice. He couldn't listen to her now, not without the full weight of everything he had lost coming crashing down on top of him.

"She would have killed you if you hadn't fought back Tyler." Jules insisted.

There was something distinctly wrong with that statement, the way it was phrased, what it insinuated. Because he distinctly remembered the look of fear in that wolf's silver eyes as it had seen him take that knife. That hadn't been self defense, it had been murder. Justified perhaps, she would have done the same there was no denying.

"Tyler, you're scaring me. Answer me." Her voice honestly did sound the closest he had ever heard to distressed but there was also a strong authority there. She was ordering him, she wasn't backing down from this. Closing his eyes, Tyler abandoned his efforts to deny his reality and flung himself head first back into the nightmare.

"What was that…what was she?" he asked with a despondent sigh, turning to the older werewolf. Her distress at his reaction to the whole mess immediately evaporated. Perhaps it had been an act to try and guilt him into answering her. Perhaps she was banishing her concern from the surface.

"A shape shifter, a Loup Garou to be precise." Jules answered curtly, she seemed to consider telling him more but she didn't continue.

"And?" Tyler asked.

"And what?"

"Tell me more about them." Tyler insisted, brow furrowing. Jules cocked her head but did not speak. "Look Jules, I need to know these things. Why was she after us?"

Jules looked him up and down and a brief smile flitted across her lips, as though she was secretly pleased with his insistence, then she shrugged.

"The Loup Garou are some of are most bitter enemies. We've hated each other for far longer than we have been at war with the vampires." She stepped up next to him, a bit closer than he would have liked and leaned up against the car with him. Jules' eyes drifted towards the tree tops, where Tyler had been gazing. Her eyes seemed to scan for a moment, as if trying to see what Tyler had been so intent on concentrating on. Trying to see what he saw in the world.

"Why?" Tyler asked, probing.

"You should know that the Loup Garou hate everyone. Vampires, witches, werewolves, humans…they have a serious chip on their collective shoulder. They even hate other shape shifters. They look down on the other races, for differing reasons to hear them tell it. Vampires are cowardly pansy bloodsuckers who hide behind their lackeys and money, witches are cowardly meat bags who hide behind magic, humans are cowardly meat bags who hide behind guns. They even hate other shape shifters because they consider them impure. Name another creature and they hate it, look down upon it and constantly boast about how they'd gladly kill it."

Jules laughed, perhaps a bit bitterly.

"In truth, it's jealousy you know. Jealousy and fear. Shape shifters are weaklings, they're just humans who can become animals after all. They're frail and compared to us short lived and pathetic. They consider us impure because we do not become true wolves, or so they say. But the Loup Garou have a crippling inferiority complex that more often than not drives them to throw themselves head first into the meat grinder." She smiled, but there was no true mirth in it. Only a soured sense of vindictive joy at the shape shifters triviality. "The only reason they haven't been stamped out is because they breed like vermin. They know that when we're transformed, when we're at our strongest, they're no match for us. They're not strong enough to kill us in a head to head confrontation and not clever enough to get around our advantages."

Jules went on like that for a while, and Tyler began to tune her out. He had sensed that the Loup Garou had wanted to kill him and he couldn't entirely discount what she was saying but there was such obvious hatred in her voice he couldn't help but see she was obviously a bit of a biased source. Hatred and contempt, though he couldn't argue with the fact that the Loup Garou were unimpressive enemies from what he had seen.

"Okay, so they hate us and want to kill us. How are they any different from vampires?" Tyler asked, attempting to cut through Jules' little five minute hate.

Jules shot him a withering glare, and Tyler leaned back. She looked like he had just insulted her mother.

"Vampires are our strongest and deadliest enemies. They have driven us to the edge of oblivion and the originals continue to hunt those few of us that remain. The Loup Garou are a bunch of filthy little mongrels with delusions of grandeur and massive egos." Jules said briskly. "If you seriously think a pack of shape shifters is anywhere near as dangerous as even a single vampire you won't live to see the end of your first year, Tyler."

"Okay, so they both want to kill us but one is dangerous and the other isn't?" Tyler asked.

Jules shook her head and sighed.

"Shape shifters can be dangerous if you're not careful. Even the Loup Garou are capable of killing a werewolf as young and ignorant as you." She jabbed, both stating a fact and prodding at Tyler's inexperience. He bristled but said nothing. "But they are nowhere near as lethal as vampires. Still, they travel in packs and easily outnumber us. Sheer numbers are their only advantage though. Sometimes they have guns, but not usually anything that could keep us down for good. Eventually you'll be able to put them down in your sleep Tyler."

Tyler digested this information, or at least tried to. First vampires, then witches and now Loup Garou all coming for his head. Jules had told him that if humans ever discovered the existence of supernatural beings they'd eventually massacre all of them, vampires and werewolves. Tyler was inclined to agree with her, he was young but he was aware enough to know that the human race could barely tolerate itself, much less other intelligent species. Especially intelligent species that ate people on a regular basis.

So, what Tyler had essentially gotten out of this revelation was that every species on the planet hated his guts and wanted to kill him painfully for being a werewolf.

He missed high school.

"So how do we kill them?" Tyler asked.

Jules smiled, as if remembering something very pleasant. Tyler found this very disconcerting.

"Knives, guns, fists, teeth, claws, vans, fire, explosives, acid, blunt force trauma, flaying, guillotine, tree limbs, boulders, fork lifts, helicopter blades, car doors, belt buckles, poison, suffocation, flag poles, air pumps, tire irons-"

"Okay, Jules. I-I get it." Tyler said, his face going white with terror.

"Oh." she said with a small bark of laughter at the memory. "And being tossed feet first into a wood chipper."

Tyler's jaw dropped.

Jules looked at him and smiled warmly.

"They're very frail Tyler. Mason used to call them 'squishy'." Jules suddenly got a very far away look in her eye. "I remember one time Brady stuffed two bitches into two separate sleeping bags and gave one to me. He insisted we have a 'pillow fight'." She laughed warmly at the memory, and when she spoke it was as if she was recounting a day at the beach with her family. As she talked she began to laugh more and more hysterically, as if it had been the funniest thing she had ever seen. "By the time we finished both bags were soaking wet, blood red and there were there jagged bits of broken bones sticking out of them." She brought her hand up to her face, which was turning a bright red from laughter.

Tyler's face was a frozen white mask, a perfect picture of complete and utter horror.

Jules wiped the tears that had formed in the corner of her eyes and looked at Tyler.

"One time, Mason found a bunch of shape shifter puppies and decided to take a fire axe and-"

"Oh sweet Jesus!" Tyler screamed, the mention of his uncle with a fire axe in the same sentence as the phrase "baby shape shifter" after hearing Jules gleefully recount the story of her and Brady brutally murdering two women shocked him out of his silence. "I can't know that! Jesus, Jules! Don't tell me things like that! I can't…gyeeaaaaah!" Just hearing the beginning of that story was enough to send his skin crawling. He knew where Jules was going with that story, and the mental image it had conjured had seared itself into his memory as painfully as if Jules had sawed off the top of his head and carved it into his brain with a red hot knife. Good God, this was a nightmare. He was living in a nightmare. Tyler clutched his head and sank to the ground, breathing heavily.

He didn't look up at Jules, he couldn't. Not even when she sat down next to him.

"I didn't come with you so I could start acting like the villain in some bad slasher movie, Jules." Tyler finally managed to choke out. "I came to learn about what I am and stop werewolves from being hunted down." He wanted to continue but his voice caught in his throat and because he was afraid of what horrible things Jules would do to him in his sleep if he revealed he was doubting if the werewolf race was worth saving.

Jules nudged him a little.

"You realize I was joking about the part with Mason, right?"

"_No_." Tyler said, a little surprised but mostly angry.

"He would never have hurt a child. Not even a shape shifter."

Tyler prepared to meet a gristly end, either via sleeping bag or wood chipper, when he asked:

"Would you?"

Dead silence hung in the air for a moment.

"Is that really what you think of me, Tyler? That I kill children for fun?"

_'Yes, probably. Definitely. In fact I'm surprised you haven't webbed me up in your lair and implanted me with your chest bursting hellspawn yet.'_

"No. I don't know. Maybe? Maybe the reason the Loup Garou hate us so much is because we brutally and violently murder them and then laugh about it later?"

"They'd do the same to us if they ever got the chance Tyler. Probably worse too." Jules honestly sounded hurt by Tyler's accusations. Tyler didn't know if he should be worried or encouraged.

"So that makes it okay?" Tyler asked.

"Yes." Without a second thought. No trepidation. No moral ambiguity. Jules knew she was right, knew there was nothing wrong with what she did. Tyler kind of wished he had her confidence, if not to make everything simpler. He envied her ability to see the world in black and white.

Tyler was afraid, afraid of the future and afraid of himself and if he wasn't afraid of Jules before from now on he was sleeping with a shotgun and a plan of quick escape every time he went to sleep with her in the general vicinity.

"I want to go home, Jules." Tyler hissed weakly. "And before you say anything I know I can't."

Jules wrapped one very shapely arm around Tyler's shoulders. He had to focus all of his concentration on not peeing his pants at being touched by the woman.

"Tyler, it's crawling with vampires. And one of the Originals is there. I know you're scared but don't worry…we'll go back. You'll go back Tyler."

She put a hand on his chin and brought his face up to look at hers.

"And when you do, it'll be as a conqueror." She promised solemnly. "We're going to get the Moonstone, Tyler. We're going to win, because we can do things the vampires can't."

Tyler asked, and in retrospect he realized how utterly cheesy the entire moment had been, why.

"We can love. We can trust one another. We can be loyal and honorable and good. Vampires are capable of many thing, amazing things, but they can't do any of that Tyler. Vampires don't feel loyalty, they aren't trustworthy. They can't love, Tyler. None of them." He knew she was talking about Caroline. Still trying as hard as she could to separate that bond.

She wasn't aware that Caroline had done that herself, she had made it abundantly clear that Tyler was nothing to her anymore. She wanted nothing to do with him. Tyler had accepted it. God help him, he had given up on whatever had been between them.

And Jules was right there. Promising him victory and conquest and glory. Promising him a future and loyalty and camaraderie.

Promising him _family_.

How could he not at least consider it? What other choice did he have?

Who else could he turn to but Jules?

Tyler took comfort in her embrace, swallowed her words but there was a undercurrent of unease even as he rested his forehead against her shoulder.

He couldn't shake the feeling that Jules had taken something from him or maybe he had willingly given it up to her, needing to trust somebody, needing to feel at least a modicrum of stability. He wouldn't realize what it had been for a long time

* * *

They're called testicals, Tyler! Quickly, grab yours back from Jules before she makes them into trendy earrings! Oop, to late. Lol, Jules continues to spin her web and bring Tyler closer and closer into the fold. Next chapter is full on Werewolf/Loup-Garou combat.


	6. Chapter 5

I'd like to thank all my readers and I'm pleased that you've enjoyed the series.

* * *

Golden daylight was streaming in through the windows of his car, filling up the back seat with an amber haze. The air smelled of rain and lightening and birds were flitting about after being grounded for half the day by the raging storm that had only just passed. Tyler was lying in the back seat, with Vicki curled up against him, head on his muscular chest, breathing softly and evenly. He could feel her heartbeat against his abdomen, could trace the blood flow beneath her skin. He lowered his head to take in a deep whiff of her hair and-

A sudden, tearing pain in his skull awakened him. It felt like someone was dragging razorblades across the soft tissue of his brain. Tyler gritted his teeth and looked up at the forest as it passed them by, slowly came to the realization he had been dozing. Not quite a dream, more a memory brought to a vivid new life in his mind's eye. The moon sat half hidden in cosmic shadow in the late afternoon sky. Tyler felt like it was taunting him, like it was a obstinate little bastard who hadn't yet earned its place in the sky but had taken it anyway.

"Bad dreams?" Jules asked, never taking her eyes off the road.

"Generally, yeah." Tyler muttered under his breath. He didn't share the fact that it had been one of the rare occasions when his dreams hadn't been horrible nightmares. He didn't think Jules liked hearing about his life before this. Maybe it reminded her of her life before she had become a werewolf. Maybe she felt bad about what he had lost.

"That's not unusual for the freshly turned." Jules comforted.

"Does it get better?" Tyler asked.

Jules didn't answer, she just drove faster.

As they put more distance between themselves and the safe house, the haunting howls of wolves followed them.

"This is food?" Tyler asked as he pushed around the mashed potatoes around the crappy diner…meatloaf? That's what the menu said anyway. He wasn't so sure.

"A food-like substance." Jules had wisely just ordered a bowl of soup, though Tyler wasn't sure it should be so thick. "Get used to crappy food, Rich Boy. We're on a budget." She said that same thing every time he complained about food, as though it was still that first time they had shared a pizza with a cardboard box-like crust and ketchup masquerading as pizza sauce. That night, it had almost seemed like everything was going to be alright.

Tyler hesitantly ate a forkful of potatoes. They were dry but at least they didn't taste bad. They didn't taste like anything at all, but it wasn't as bad as some of the other food he had eaten since meeting up with Jules. Tyler suddenly realized how hungry he was and started eating with more gusto.

"So, where are we supposed to be delivering those-" Jules shot him a withering glare. Right, public place. Bad to talk shop in a diner. Not that there was any other patrons but still, Jules was right. "-golf… clubs?"

"I'll fill you in after we leave." Jules said, finishing off her coffee quickly and throwing a few dollars on the table. "Which is now."

"Why?" Tyler asked, he saw her getting up to leave but he also saw her hand slipping under her leather coat where she had her gun tucked into a holster.

"Because two Loup Garou just walked in." Tyler's heart skipped a beat. Jules motioned for him to get up. "Keep calm, don't let them know we've made them." Tyler set down his fork, tried to act casual but he couldn't mask the unease he felt as he slid out of the booth and stole a quick peak at the two wolf shifters who had just walked in. Two males, one was pretty young, he could have been a student at Mystic Falls high. The other was older, maybe in his mid to late twenties. Pretty boys, they could have been underwear models or stars of another stupid CW show about oversexed teenagers complaining about how hard their lives were while lounging around their parent's pool drinking and screwing. Tyler stole another glance at them, the older of the two sported a full but well groomed beard, the younger had long hair tied back in a pony tail like some Anne Rice puke.

The older of the two, the beard sporting wolf was actually wearing a plaid shirt and jean jacket. He looked like someone who was appearing in a guest spot on Desperate Housewives as one of the characters' lumberjack boyfriend. The manufactured rugged look, meant to be wild but not _to _wild. He hated these guys just on principle, they had the air of a couple of douche bags pretending to be werewolves to pick up chicks or because they thought it was chic and hip.

Tyler looked back at Jules, searching her face for answers. Jules already had a plan and her eyes flitted to the entrance, she wanted him to leave. Just walk right past the wolves and out the front door? Okay, ballsy and maybe not to well thought out but it was more than he could come up with on the spot. Tyler turned around and made his way to the door, the older Loup Garou stared at him as he walked past. The werewolf heard the shape shifter growl at him, not an inhuman canine growl but the kind of sound that a human trying to imitate a dog would make. He pretended he didn't notice and instead reached the door as the Loup Garou went right past him and began to approach Jules. He paused for a moment, hand on the door, eyes locked on the car. It wasn't to far, he could probably make it to the car and grab the biggest, scariest looking gun he could find before they even reached her…or he could just make a break for it.

"Hey, there sweet thing. We're a little turned around. Wondering if you could point us in the right direction."

Tyler recognized the underlying tone of voice. The half predator half playful timbre that mixed together into something part lusty and part threatening in an attempt to charm a woman with menace. Tyler recognized it because he had used it on women before, and something about it rankled. Tyler dared to look over at Jules who was backed up to the counter with both shape shifters crowding her. The younger wolf was looking at her, smiling as his eyes roamed over her body. She was keeping eye contact with the older one, smiling nastily up at him. Jules had more than a few tricks up her sleeve, and Tyler had little doubt she would make mincemeat of both of them if she wanted to.

She was fine, time to go.

Tyler hesitated, his hand on the door. He glanced back out the window, at the car and then returned his gaze to Jules and the Loup Garou. Jules glanced back at him, and it was as if she had managed to write a message into her eyes. 'I'm fine, go. Get out of here.' He should go, he had no reason to stay. She was fine, Jules was going to be fine, he should go…

The younger wolf reached up and grabbed Jules' ass. Before Tyler even realized what was going on Jules had knocked Lumberjack Wolf away from her and had grabbed the younger shifter's wandering hand, there were tiny crunches as the bones in the offending hand were snapped in Jules' fist, then in a blinding tornado of speed she dragged him around and smashed his face directly into the counter. There was a cracking sound and a tiny whimper of pain but the wolf shifter slumped. A waitress standing at the counter screamed and jumped back. Lumberjack Wolf let out a furious shout, Tyler saw his eyes start to glow with a soft sapphire light and baby blue mist began to emanate from them like steam. He pulled out a gun, aimed and fired. One of the shots blew the top of the screaming waitress' head off and but the two other smacked directly into Jules' back. Two huge craters erupted in her back, her chest exploded and blood sprayed from her mouth.

Tyler wasn't sure what the angry, rasping noise in his ears was until he realized he had let loose a hoarse, animalistic roar. His world changed from colors to black and white and it felt like someone had lit a fire in his skull. The Loup Garou turned to him, and was already pointing the gun when Tyler flew at him with impossible speed. The gun went off in the shape shifter's hands and Tyler felt like a flaming fist had struck him in the chest. The werewolf slowed but the pain only fueled his rage and before he knew what he was doing he had the wolf shifter by the front of his shirt and was lifting him off his feet. Tyler heard the gun going off but didn't care and with all his might hefted the wolf over his head, like Atlas holding up the world and threw the Loup Garou out the front window.

"Tyler?" Jules asked beside him. He whipped his head around and as his eyes fell on her he could feel them return to their normal state. She was leaning against the counter, the Loup Garou laying at her feet. Blood flowing from the two bullet wounds in her chest but she had a look on her face more like someone had just kicked her in the shin rather than blown two giant holes in her torso. "I told you to go outside." She snapped as he darted forward to help her to the car.

"I'm not going anywhere." He told her as he slipped her arm around his shoulder and lifted her up. Leaning on him, she made it to the car far quicker. A human being would be dead by now, it was Jules werewolf physiology that saved her but Tyler didn't know how far that would extend. He had to get her to a hospital and quickly before she bled out.

The air was torn with the sound of another gunshot, a speeding lead projectile shot past him and sliced open his bicep. Tyler roared again and opened the car door, tossing Jules inside. He grabbed Jules' gun out of the holster and turned to face the shape shifter who was still lying amid broken glass. The Loup Garou clambered to his feet, still firing. Tyler shot back, but none of his shots even came close to hitting their mark. It was surprising how quick the two of them burned through the bullets, but this wasn't a movie fire fight and it seemed like only seconds had passed before the both of them were standing there pointing empty firearms at each other.

"Tyler!" Jules managed to shout, the young werewolf looked at her just in time to see her toss a second ammo clip at him. He caught it, ejected the spent clip just as she had taught him to and slammed the second clip home.

The Loup Garou was charging him, shrugging of his jacket and then tearing open his shirt to reveal a chest that was already sprouting dark brown hair. With a triumphant, exuberant howl he leapt, pants flying off as his back legs morphed-

Tyler pointed his gun and pulled the trigger-

As the Loup Garou flew at him, Tyler saw him change shape midair. His skin rippled and with a soft whooshing sound his body _slid _into the shape of a huge brown wolf with glowing sapphire eyes like water flowing in a stream-

And the clip slid out of the gun and clattered at his feet.

"Oh _sh-_." Tyler managed to say before the wolf collided with him. Once again he was knocked back, but this time he managed to keep hold of the gun. He slammed the butt of the gun down on the wolf's head before he managed to get his teeth in him and the Loup Garou yelped. With a mighty heave he threw the Loup Garou off of him and climbed to his feet. The wolf was a handsome animal, with a thick, full coat of brown hair. He was lean and narrow and sleek and as he began to stalk Tyler his entire body seemed almost weightless in the effortless grace of his movement. The wolf's lips pulled back over pearly white teeth and a low growling chuckle bubbled from his narrow muzzle. The wolf was laughing at him, sapphire eyes alight with azure smoke as it circled him.

Tyler suddenly wanted to beat the shit out of the smug bastard with his bare hands, wolf or not. He felt his eyes change, his teeth elongated and he snarled right back at the wolf and began to slowly move in tandem with the shape shifter. Circling his enemy even as it circled him, he could feel heat rising in his body, making it feel like someone had lit a furnace beneath his skin. It hurt, but pain only made him angrier and rage was power for a werewolf. In the distance, he heard the sound of howling wolves but even though he knew he should be worried all it did was infuriate him even more. Jules shouted something to him but he although he heard her the words seemed far away and nonsensical to his ears. The wolf snarled and gathered itself to leap, Tyler planted his feet and roared in defiance.

Suddenly the werewolf's ears were assaulted by the distinctive chatter of automatic gunfire. A stream of bullets tore into the wolf's brown pelt causing it to rip apart as though it was being savaged by a thousand invisible knives. The Loup Garou was picked up as though by some terrible, invisible hand and thrown back, landing in a crumpled heap. Tyler looked over his shoulder, feeling his body relax into its completely human form. She stood, holding a smoking Kalashnikov and breathing heavily, Tyler couldn't help but stare at her.

"We don't have time for this." Jules growled at him through gritted teeth.

Tyler heard howling and barking behind him, and turned to see a pack of furious wolves charging across the parking lot towards them. They were dark shapes, like living shadows loping towards them with easy strides. It almost seemed as though they were flying towards him. Glowing ruby, orange, emerald, silver and gold eyes glared hatred at the two werewolves as the lithe lupine silhouettes charged them trailing ephemeral chromatic mist.

Tyler turned and leapt across the hood of the car in a single bound, Jules ducked into the car. There was a sound of gunfire, Tyler looked up to see a shape shifter in human form with long gray hair, although he looked to be about forty. He sprayed wildly with a machine gun, the bullets tore up the roof of the car but Tyler managed to get into the driver's side before he was hit. Starting the car, he threw the car into reverse and peeled out. Tires squealing he managed to scatter the oncoming wolf pack before speeding out of the parking lot and onto the road. More gunfire peppered their bumper but they were already pulling away. A black and white wolf, with a pelt that seemed more vibrant and brightly colored than the others leapt into the middle of the road. Reddish orange eyes glowing as the wolf snarled at the oncoming car.

Tyler barely felt the car go over the Loup Garou as it was pulled under the tires.

"Jules? Are you okay?" Tyler asked, fear gripped his heart. He looked over at his companion who was clutching her chest.

"I'm fine, the bullets went though. The bleeding's already stopped. My ribs are healing…it hurts." She said, though she sounded winded it wasn't like she was bleeding from the mouth anymore.

"What're we gonna do, Jules?" Tyler asked.

"Full moon's tonight." Jules said quietly.

He tensed at those words.

"We'll be able to wipe out their entire pack."

Tyler shuddered and looked up at the darkening sky.

The moon was rising.

His body was burning.

* * *

Originally this chapter was going to be longer, but I've been dragging ass on my fanfic writing in general so I figured I'd tie things up and give you guys something to chew on and confirm that I'm still alive.

Also, keep an eye out for a oneshot centering around Tyler and Isobel.


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